


Greg and Lu

by Cooper_City



Category: Wilde Life (Webcomic)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 14:28:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19725529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cooper_City/pseuds/Cooper_City
Summary: Okay, look, this isn't strictly fanfiction but you're not going to fully understand this story unless you've read the webcomic "Wilde Life" by Pascale Lepas.  It is possible you may still enjoy the story even without having read the comic, but A) I'm not so cocky as to claim that you will *definitely* enjoy it, and B) I just want to make sure people understand what they're getting into here.That said, this is generally a sweet story about a couple who live their lives in a world from not too long ago that is still learning how to accept people who are different.





	Greg and Lu

Greg was a large gentleman by any measure. Height, width, length, he was noticeably above average in all categories. But he was a gay man, born at a time and in a place when it was not acceptable to be a gay man. He knew that he received some undue respect from the community due to his stature, but he also knew he'd lose it all and then some if he didn't keep up appearances.

And that's where Lu came in. Now, Greg did love Lu, and she loved Greg, but not in the way most people in town had assumed. It was the platonic love of a friendship that in most circumstances would have remained outside of wedlock. But Greg needed to keep up appearances, and Lu had no real interest in romance besides.

Over the years, Greg and Lu developed an understanding. They were devoted to supporting one another entirely, but on occasion, Greg would bring home another man, an expression plastered across his face that Lu had grown to recognize well, and Lu would smile a contended smile as her husband lead some new fling into the guest room and did what he would do.

It was understood that if Lu had ever brought home anyone in a similar state, that the courtesy would be returned. But she never did, and never expressed a desire to.

Time passed, and where once there was only shame, slowly a community grew. Greg would bring men home more often, not because he had intended to become more active in particular, but because there were simply more willing to put themselves out there.

But one evening, before Greg could bring his latest guest more than three steps into the foyer, Lu noticed the bruises. The young man never made it to the guest room that night, as Lu tended to his wounds and Greg coaxed the story of their appearance from him. 

It was not a pleasant story.

The young man came to live with Greg and Lu for a time. Just until he could afford a bus ticket bound for somewhere safer. He was the first, but not the last gay man who would seek and receive shelter under Greg and Lu's roof.

Time went on, and slowly the world progressed. Greg and Lu's relationship only became stronger, even as it remained platonic, through the shared project of maintaining an informal foster home for anyone cast out by their parents who could not yet support themselves. People showed up at their doorstep with new words: "bisexual," "transgender," "pansexual," but most notably for Lu was the night a young woman knocked on their door saying that her family would not accept her because she was asexual.

It was the first time that Lu had heard the term, and got as much information as possible on the subject that night. Like a light bulb switched on in a dark attic, suddenly Lu understood why she felt different from other women, why she could make her arrangement with Greg work without ever desiring reciprocation. Lu, too, was asexual.

The next weekend was a rare moment when Greg and Lu had the house to themselves, and they had a long talk. If Lu could learn something so integral about herself so late in life, she determined, then publicity, communication, were of paramount importance. What the pair had once done in secret, relying on word of mouth to bring those in need to their door, they would now air out to the public. They would tell their story and invite all who were in need, openly and publicly.

Their home became a queer haven. An LGBT oasis in a desert of intolerance. It was not easy, but by now both Lu and Greg were far too established, far too influential, for any member of the community to make any kind of credible thread.

Yes, their home flourished. Because nobody would even consider harming someone under the protection of the Wife-Aced Bear.


End file.
